| A perfect storm
GUYMON -- Oh, what a beautiful evening it is in the Oklahoma Panhandle. The sunset blazes orange, cattle graze on yucca flowers, and prairie grasses wave serenely toward the horizon. At least, on one side of Highway 412. On the other, a massive supercell rotates low over the land. Black and purple, with a bright green heart of softball-sized hail, the circular thunderstorm uncannily resembles a spaceship in the movie "Independence Day." Vans, Doppler radar trucks, and emergency vehicles zoom along its periphery like ants rimming a giant carousel. On the storm's underbelly, ragged clouds start twisting into a drill-bit shape. Over the CB radio, on "chaser channel" 146.520 megahertz, meteorologist Bob Conzemius tells four vans of hopeful listeners, "It's reorganizing." Sure enough, the drill bit elongates into a crooked finger pointing toward the ground.
Salem driver wins Bug-In event in Portland
Working on an hour and a half of sleep Sunday, Mike Canon was fortunate to get his 1972 Volkswagen Beetle together in time to make it to the Bug-In at Portland International Raceway. But then he started going rounds. And kept going. And kept going. Eventually, the Salem racer won the Pro 2 bracket for his first win in a drag race. "It was kind of pretty exciting," said Canon, the owner of INEFX Veedubs in Salem. "It was pretty thrilling to actually come out pretty good. That was pretty amazing." It took Canon and father, Joe, a week and a half to put the car together for the race, including the all-nighter Saturday. In his first race on PIR's dragstrip, Canon put down a pass of 15.06 seconds in his first qualifying, but blew the exhaust off on the second qualifying pass and ran in 19 seconds.
Brown mulls run for governor in 2010
Riding high on a global warming action plan he wants to take statewide, California Attorney General Jerry Brown said Wednesday he's thinking about running for governor when the job opens up again in 2010. "The thought has certainly crossed my mind, but I haven't really come to any conclusion," Brown said over coffee in a meeting with The Bee's Capitol Bureau staff. Meanwhile, Brown said, he's moving. He and his wife are in escrow on a house in the Oakland hills, he said, above the flats near downtown where they live in a one-room loft. Helping prompt the move: Ten homicides within five blocks of his residence since he's lived there. .
Where there's smoke, there's Hempfest
Even some of their friends thought the idea of a big party pushing for reform of anti-marijuana laws was half-baked. "When we told people 15 years ago there would be 150,000 people coming to a protest festival with 60 bands from around the country all playing for free and the cops would smile, they didn't think it could happen," McPeak said. "It defied conventional wisdom." But McPeak and friends have built the Seattle Hempfest -- an annual event started in 1991 -- into one of the largest drug-policy reform rallies in the country, if not the world. To do so, McPeak has invested thousands of unpaid hours, living on disability paychecks for ailments he said he remedies with medicinal marijuana. Many on the roughly 700 all-volunteer staff are similarly dedicated to producing the free event Saturday and Sunday at Myrtle Edwards Park.
In dogged pursuit of illegal fugitives with ICE agents
On a quiet East Oakland street in the hour before dawn Tuesday, Tony Aiello and the five members of his fugitive operations team parked their unmarked SUVs and approached a red-trimmed bungalow. Two of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents cased the sides of the building, while the other three marched onto the front porch, rapped on the door and announced themselves: "Police!" The agents were after an illegal immigrant: a convicted felon who had served time for assault with a deadly weapon, then slipped out of sight when he was ordered deported. But the address was old, the house had been abandoned and all Aiello's crew found was a homeless man who had broken in a back door to sleep for the night. At the next address, a modest house bordered by red roses and a row of towering corn stalks, another targeted alien - with a record for hit-and-run DUI and weapons possession - had already left for work.
BMW M3
It was a dramatic view of a four-seat car that would be fine for a supermar-ket visit, the school run or giving delicate Aunt Maude a tootle down the promenade in Eastbourne. There it was, slewing sideways, smoke pouring from its rear tyres but fully under control, despite having its chassis safety electronics turned off, a moment later catapulting out of the corner and accelerating to 120mph. This was not irresponsibility warranting an immediate ASBO (Anti Sideways Behaviour Order), but a BMW company driver demonstrating on a track in southern France what the new 4.0litre V8-engined M3 can be made to do – safely and securely. "I would recommend buyers of this car to experience its track capabilities and its dynamics – but always with a qualified instructor," Rolf Scheibner, who is not only the product manager of the M3 and an instructor but also a racing driver, said.
Q&A: Sam Michael
Nico and Alex always give me direct feedback after every race and test session as well. That's particularly good because it shows their commitment to the team and wanting to be an integral part of moving us back up the grid. Q: What have been the highs and lows of your year?
SM: Two highs of the year were the first couple of races because our car was more competitive than last year. Montreal was also good because Alex finished on the podium in really difficult circumstances. Lows included Monaco, where Nico was fast but because of traffic couldn't show it, and then Montreal, where he was really fast again but had to fuel under the safety car which ultimately damaged his race. .
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